Chapter 45
The pond water rippled as Prince lowered himself into it, a small cloud of dirt rising from his body to the surface, showing how much dirt had actually got in his fur from their training session earlier that afternoon.
Aura let out a yawn as he stepped out of their tent in a pair of dark green swimming trunks with a towel hung over his shoulder. "You still tired from last night or is it just me?" He asked with a light chuckle, dropping the towel on the edge before stepping into the chilly water as well. Prince laughed as Aura's body locked up from the cold water while trying to will himself to actually sink down. "Scratch that, I suddenly feel wide awake!" He shivered.
Prince thought for a moment with one ear folded down whilst he scratched his chin. He let out a very quick humming noise of certainty before promptly pulling himself out of the pool.
"Where are you headed off to?" Aura asked through chattering teeth.
Prince hurried toward their pile of firewood and grabbed three thicker chunks and ran back. He quickly piled them up near the water's edge before climbing back into the pond. Taking in some air, he then dove below the water which made Aura furrow his brow in confusion. A sudden splash of cold water made Aura jump as Prince emerged from the deep with his arms full of stones smoothed down from years of sitting at the bottom of the water.
"Alright, what are you actually doing?" Aura asked again.
Prince smirked as he waded over to the waters edge and set down the pile of rocks. "I am going to help you warm up, Master Aura," he paused as he pulled himself from the pool, "well, in theory it should work at least." Setting the rocks down beside the wood, Prince once again hurried to their supplies to retrieve a box of matches and the small cooking grill to set up above the fire. After striking the match and lighting the kindling he placed below the wood, Prince started to set the smooth rocks both around and on top of the fire.
Aura had at this point adjusted to the cold water, but he was still happy to see Prince doing so much to make it warmer and he was very intrigued by the Pokemon's quick thinking and ingenuity. "I get it now. You're gonna make the water more like a hotspring or a sauna?" Prince nodded. "You know, I never doubted your intelligence before but this is really impressive. I never would have actually considered this an option."
With a slow tilt of his head and a slightly questionable stare, though it was certainly worded strangely, Prince quickly realized that was a genuine compliment towards his knowledge. "Thank you, Master Aura. Honestly, for a moment there I could not tell if you were being sarcastic about my intelligence." He told him.
"Oh! I didn't mean for it to come out like that." Aura smacked himself in the side of the head. "Sorry about that. You've shown multiple times just how smart you really are."
Moving away from the awkward moment, Prince reached down and poked one of the stones on the grill, feeling barely any actual warmth coming from the stone rather than the fire below. "Hmm, maybe this won't work without a lot more heat." Just as he finished his thought, Prince smiled as an idea suddenly crossed his mind. "Perhaps if I…" Looking down, Prince focused his aura intensely to alter the temperature around his legs in a very specific way, flawlessly igniting his Blaze Kick for a moment before honing his focus even more. With his eyes shut tight and the appendages on his head rising, Prince took on a ready stance and performed a swift axe kick towards the fire.
Prince let out a loud grunt as he forcefully swung his leg downward. Expecting some kind of large-scale effect, Aura ducked down a bit into the water, though all he saw shoot out from the Blaze Kick was a few large embers that quickly burned out in the air.
A few seconds of silence followed after seeing that literally almost nothing actually happened from his attack, Prince suddenly hunched over and began to sulk. "That was embarrassing." He groaned.
"What was even supposed to happen?" Aura asked.
Prince sighed. "I was trying to manipulate the air in a specific way so that I could potentially send a wave of fire from my Blaze Kick, but I suppose I can only affect the air directly around my body and nothing else."
Aura reached out of the water and pat his partner's arm. "Hey, remember that you managed to pull off a combination move with Extreme Speed and Metal Claw to make essentially a giant sawblade."
"Of course you were the one who instructed me to do so." Prince reminded.
"Either way, if you can manage a combo like that I'm pretty sure we can figure out more than one way to use your Blaze Kick." A flick of his ear and sudden smile spread across the Lucario's face told Aura he had an idea. "What are you thinking about this time?" He asked with a sly grin.
Prince looked at his right paw with a confident gaze. "Perhaps I can affect the air around more than just my legs." It didn't take long for Aura to understand what Prince was implying, and with a simple nod and reassuring "go for it", Prince straightened up and closed his paw into a tight fist. "Here goes nothing." Fastly shutting his eyes, Prince began concentrating his aura with his legs briefly catching fire suddenly, although it didn't take long for the flames to begin spiraling and die out as small streaks of red fire proceeded to orbit around his fist. Prince could feel the energy surrounding his paws greatly heat up as his aura forced the molecules to cause a rapid increase of friction, and in a manner of seconds the small streaks of embers grew larger and larger. Soon enough it became so intense that a glove of fire burst into existence and engulfed his whole fist.
The duo stared wide-eyed at the fire enveloped around Prince's fist. "You just continue to amaze me, Prince." Aura told him seriously.
With an accomplished smirk on his face, Prince lowered to his knees and took one of the largest stones from the fire. He held the rock in his paw for a moment and let the flames swirl around it, placing it back into the fire he took another stone right after and repeated the process. One after another Prince let the rocks warm in his grasp until they were all scorching hot and darkened slightly from the heat.
"You really think it's gonna work?" Aura inquired. To be honest, Aura's body had already adjusted to the temperature of the water during the time Prince spent lighting the fire and collecting the stones, but he didn't want to interject and risk hurting Prince's pride. Besides, even he himself had no real idea if this would actually work or not and was just too curious to stop it.
"I hope it will work, but there is only one way to say for sure." Moving the rocks from the fire to the water's edge, Prince dropped one in after another and watched them sink to the bottom. "Is it warming up now?" Prince asked hopefully.
Aura slowly waded closer to where the hot stones were dropped in. "I can definitely feel some difference in the temperature, but considering the size of the pond and how small the stones are in comparison, this may not be the most efficient way to do it." He turned to Prince and cheerfully grinned. "But think of it this way, you tried your best to give us a bit more comfort and for it you pretty much learned how to use Fire Punch."
Prince looked at his paws again and flexed his fingers. "You're right, Master Aura. Though I should do more training with this new ability I have before we use it in real combat."
"Exactly what I was thinking. Let's finish washing off though first and have some dinner, then we can work out the details while we eat. Sound good to you?"
Prince nodded and dipped back down into the water. "Sounds perfect to me."
After about an hour and a half had passed and with their bodies cleaned and their stomachs full, Aura and Prince had begun their special training to master Prince's new Fire Punch. Starting off with something simple, Aura had the idea to test against a lone tree that stood near the edge of their campsite. It certainly wasn't the most efficient method of training, but again this was simply just a start.
"Whenever you're ready, Prince. See how much damage you can do to that tree in thirty seconds." Aura called, poised a bit further back with his phone in hand ready to start the timer. Prince looked back and nodded, calling out he was ready and igniting the fire around his fists. "Three! Two! One! Go!" Aura shouted.
Taking off like a rocket, Prince lunged toward the thick trunk and threw his first punch dead on in the center of the target. The whole tree shook from the immense force behind Prince's punch and it left behind a bit of scorch marks on the bark, however Prince did not let up and continued to beat against the tree for the remainder of the thirty seconds, each blow sending embers and shards of charred bark into the air as Prince slowly dug into the wood.
"And time!" Aura called. Prince turned and watched Aura approach him. "Let's take a look at how much damage you did." Prince stepped aside so Aura could inspect the results of their first test, though upon seeing the ruined surface of the wood it was clear he wouldn't have to inspect it much at all. "Holy shit. You left a pretty damn big crater already," he extended his hand and whistled, "and it's giving off quite a bit of warmth too."
Prince stood attentive beside him. "May I ask what you plan for the next stage of our training?"
Aura straightened up and rubbed the back of his head. "Well seeing how powerful your Fire Punch is already it makes me slightly less confident in sparring with you. On the other hand, most of the damage you did to the tree is probably because it's more flammable? Either way, I think we should do a bit more testing first…" As Aura scratched his chin in thought, he looked around the surrounding forest and watched as a few curious Pokemon peered through the brush, while others just went about their normal lives in the distance, paying little mind to the existence of the duo. "That's it!" Aura suddenly blurt out.
"What is it, Master Aura?"
He turned to Prince and smirked, "Remember when Gurkinn was explaining this place to us? He mentioned how some of the Pokemon here would probably be wanting to fight us, which is why this place is usually closed off."
"So we are going to go out and fight wild Pokemon?" Prince cocked his head.
"Well yes, but I was thinking we pack up a few things and go for a hike. And if we're lucky we might find a Pokemon out in the woods who would be happy to train with us." Aura pat his partner on the shoulder as he walked past towards their tent. "Let's start packing, we'll need emergency rations, some rope, full canteens, and some first aid stuff."
Taking roughly fifteen minutes to prep for their hike, the duo double checked their sling backpacks to confirm they were not forgetting anything, and before long they started up the trail in search of a sparring partner.
The time was nearing five in the afternoon and down the city street walked Diamond, Alice, Darlene and everyone else as they made their way towards one building in particular: the spa they stopped at the day before.
During their last visit, sadly since they had not made an actual appointment then they could not finish Diamond's hair treatment and could only do some basic trimming of her fur. This time, on the other hand, Alice had called earlier that morning and asked to make an appointment for a full treatment, however because of the upcoming tournament many trainers had reserved time to have their Pokemon groomed and none of the groomers were available until now. Despite the long wait, they were just happy to finally get to spend the rest of the afternoon at the spa, they even managed to convince Stan and Lee to come along and relax.
Darlene opened the front door for the rest of the group before walking in herself. "I'm excited to finally see Diamond after her full treatment."
Alice chuckled. "I bet no one is going to be as excited as Aura, though. And this time maybe she can actually wear her bikini and join us in the jacuzzi." She laughed.
Diamond flushed as they took their seat on the long couch and waited for the spa workers to call them in. "Oh- uhm. I think I actually forgot it in my room! Heheh, silly me." She awkwardly chuckled.
"Oh, you mean this?" Alice said as she pulled the bikini from her shoulderbag. The red suddenly drained from Diamond's face for a moment as she stared at the bright pink bikini. "I noticed you didn't have it when we were about to leave so I hurried to your room and snagged it."
Diamond gulped nervously. Lee shook his head and looked at his mate. "Why must you torture her like that?"
Alice shrugged. "It's not so much torture as helping her. She wants to look more attractive for Aura, but no way she'll be able to wear these in front of him if she can't wear it in front of us girls." She quickly tucked the swimsuit back in her bag. "Sorry if I'm embarrassing you, Diamond, but you'll probably be more embarrassed after you're kit is born. As a nurse I've seen so many mothers with kids who do embarrassing things."
Once again Diamond gulped nervously. Thankfully it wasn't much longer until the spa attendant came out and asked for them to follow her. "Okay, you asked for one of our best groomers to supply a very specific treatment for your Delphox, correct?"
Alice nodded. "Yes ma'am. Though she's not my Delphox. She's technically my friend's Pokemon, but he is off training with his Lucario right now."
The woman gave a questionable glance that somewhat worried Diamond, so without thinking about it she spoke up. "I hope Aura not being here isn't a problem. I was the one who wanted the treatment to I could look nicer for him."
The woman blinked from hearing the Delphox actually speak to her. "So Aura is the name of your trainer?"
Diamond smiled from the thought of Aura. "Yes, but he doesn't think of us as just his Pokemon, we're family to him. In fact him and I are actually having a kit." Diamond explained before giving her slightly enlarged midriff a gentle rub. They watched as the woman suddenly froze in place and turned to face them. "D-did I say something wrong?" Diamond quickly asked, worried about this as she was still not used to talking with strangers.
The woman's kind smile faltered and turned to a partially disgusted grimace. Realizing this, the woman quickly forced her expression to change to something more mutual. "N-no. Everything is fine. Please just follow me to the groomer." She said, sounding less than enthusiastic in her tone. Turning back around they continued on their way down the hall, but as they started Diamond's ear twitched as she could hear the woman muttering angrily under her breath. "Disgusting trainers using Pokemon for sex, getting them pregnant to probably just sell the damn egg later for money. I can't believe this crime against nature is even legal." She hissed.
Diamond suddenly slowed down with the others stopping the moment they noticed this. "Diamond? Are you okay?" Alice quickly asked while looking for any physical signs of problems. Diamond balled her paws into fists angrily as she bared her teeth while taking deep breaths. "Diamond? Please, just stay calm and tell me what's wrong." Alice persisted, worrying for hers and the egg's safety.
It may have just been the pregnancy affecting her mood, but Diamond suddenly felt more enraged than she's ever been before.
The spa attendant turned with a false smile and asked what the issue was. "Is everything o-"
"How fucking dare you!" Diamond suddenly barked. Her eyes burned with intense rage all of a sudden, the outburst startling the others as well as they've never seen Diamond act so hostile towards anyone
"Diamond? What's gotten into you?" Alice asked. She went ignored as Diamond took a step towards the woman.
"What gives you the right to ridicule MY life with MY trainer?!" Everyone tilted their heads in confusion. "Aura is the kindest person I've ever met and I love him!" Diamond took another step towards the woman. "You don't know anything about our life so why do you just assume you can bitch about it like you have the fucking right to?! Maybe because YOU are the kind of human who actually fucking abuses Pokemon and sees them as nothing but mindless beasts! Well guess what! I made the choice to be with Aura! We're happy to be together like this! And we're tired of scum like you saying it's wrong and a crime against nature when we clearly love each other!" By now Diamond was shouting in the woman's face with her claw pressed into her chest, but this didn't stop the woman from retaliating.
Without any concern for the pregnant Pokemon's well-being, the woman pushed Diamond back a few steps before snapping back herself. "I don't give a damn what you're saying because you're obviously being forced to think you love some freak who fucks their Pokemon for fun! Humans and Pokemon are not meant to be together! It's disgusting and wrong in every way! And if you even try to lay your paws on me again I'll have you and your trainer dealt with severely!"
Tears built up in Diamond's eyes as she was still in shock from being shoved backwards and having her egg's safety be at risk. Everyone glared at the woman with the commotion calling some other staff members and clients out to watch the incident.
Tia and Kibbs stepped between them and growled viciously at the woman for harming Diamond, both of them obviously wanting to chew her ears out had it not been for their language barrier. Meanwhile, Diamond was still in absolute shock from the incident while Darlene was having no more of it. Giving Diamond to Alice to comfort, Darlene stormed toward the woman and stood mere inches from her face.
"You heartless fucking slut! Why would you fucking think that shoving a pregnant woman be at all okay! If anyone is going to be fucking sent to prison it'll be you for this shit!"
"Get out of my face you whore! I bet you're in on this shit too!"
Darlene's body burst into a bluish flame of energy that made everyone around her freeze in shock. She grabbed the woman's collar and lift her off her feet. "Listen here! You have no FUCKING right to touch my daughter-in-law with your filthy hands! In fact, you have no right to touch any Pokemon at all! If humans and Pokemon weren't meant to be together then why is she bearing my son's child right now?! Huh?!"
The woman was left speechless. Darlene threw her to the floor and the flaring energy vanished. "You… You're a freak!" She screeched.
"Cassidy!" A woman's voice called out. Looking down the hall, a tall woman hurried towards them clearly upset.
"Miss Emily! Thank god you're here!" The woman, apparently named Cassidy, hurried to her feet and rushed to Miss Emily. "You've gotta call the police! These people are fucking insane! They-" Cassidy was cut off as she was fiercely slapped across the face with the smack echoing through the halls.
"No! You're the only insane person here! I was clearly wrong to hire a horrible person like you when you can't do anything but cause a scene and bring lawsuits to this company!"
"But-"
"Shut your mouth! I don't want to hear your excuses anymore! This was your last warning!"
Cassidy growled. "What the fuck! How can you not see that this Delphox is clearly being forced to have sex with her trainer and have eggs for him to just sell on the black market?!"
Again Miss Emily delivered a hard smack across Cassidy's face. "How fucking stupid are you?! This Delphox clearly isn't being forced into a relationship at all! If her and her trainer are still together like this then she's obviously happy!"
"How can you be so sure?!"
"Maybe because she wouldn't be restricted by her Pokeball anymore?!" Alice chimed in. "Diamond and Aura have been together for a few months already, and the Willpower Override System on her Pokeball has been shut down for almost as long. So if she wasn't happy then why would they still be together?!"
Cassidy had a dumbfounded look as if this was her first time even hearing about the override system. "B-but they-"
"I don't want to hear it! I'm sorry Cassidy but you've caused too many issues with your stupid discrimination against interspecies relationships. You're fired! Go pack up your shit and I want you gone by six, otherwise I'll have to get the police involved."
Cassidy was again speechless. "Fine, bitch! But you'll be hearing from my lawyers soon enough!" Letting out one last shout of rage, she stormed off down the hall and out of sight.
"Alright everyone, sorry for the commotion but you can go about your day worry free now. And as apology for this I'll provide a ten percent discount to your treatments." As soon as the halls were quiet once more, the woman quickly walked toward the group and bowed. "I am so, so terribly sorry for what just happened. The only reason she even worked here was because her parents have a large investment in our company." The woman straightened up and looked at them with the most sincere eyes. "Please, I would like to offer free services at our spa as compensation for the whole incident. Even if you press charges against the company I would understand."
"It's not your fault. In fact we would like to thank you for stepping in." Darlene told her. "But I think we should go make sure Diamond is okay. I can't imagine the trauma this could have caused."
"No." Diamond said. Everyone blinked and watched Diamond stand up and rub her eyes. "No, I won't let that bitch ruin our evening."
"But, Diamond." Tia interrupted.
Diamond sniffled. "I'm fine. I already expected this kind of stuff to happen ever since the first time Aura and I were told our relationship was wrong by some jerk. But no matter how much it hurts it doesn't change the fact we still love each other." Diamond wiped a tear away and sniffled again.
Everyone gave each other concerned looks. "Are you positive? I mean we can always come back another time."
"I'm sure. I might just need a few minutes to calm down first, but after that I should be fine."
"By all means. Please allow me to escort you all to a VIP lounge then for now. I'll have some staff bring you some refreshments as well." Miss Emily offered. They thanked her greatly for her generosity and followed her to a room down the hall. Inside there were mudbaths, a large jacuzzi, massage tables, a sauna, and so much more. "Make yourselves comfortable and just call us with that buzzer on the table whenever you're ready for your service."
Thanking her again, Miss Emily closed the door and allowed them all to get comfortable. Diamond shuffled to the fancy sofas in the room and sat down with her arms wrapped around herself.
"Diamond, are you really still up for all this?" Tia asked.
Diamond didn't hesitate to look at her and nod. "Yeah. I'm just surprised from the whole thing and a bit shaken up." She picked up a pamphlet from the table and actually snickered. "But isn't that what a spa is for?"
Lee laughed and crossed his arms. "Considering what just happened not even five minutes ago, you don't seem too affected by it. That's quite admirable if I'm gonna be honest, no wonder Aura loves you."
Diamond put her fingers to her chin and sniffed again. "I have to be strong. Aura may be the one who was born with all this responsibility on him, but I'm still his partner, and now I have to be strong not only for him," she rubbed her belly, "but also for our baby." Wiping her eyes again, Diamond took a few second to breath and compose herself. "Alright. I think I'm ready to relax now." She said.
Darlene wasted no time in pressing the buzzer on the table and waiting for a few of the spa staff to enter the room, being three women and two men, the skinnier of the men carrying a basket full of grooming tools. Each of the staff members gracefully bowed in greeting. "Miss Emily had told us about what happened and we are greatly sorry for it." One of the men explained.
The skinny man, whom looked to be in his late twenties, walked towards the group by the couch. He looked to Diamond and smiled. "My name is Justin. I'm going to be the groomer for your Delphox. Diamond I believe was her name?"
Diamond looked up and nodded. "Yes. Sorry if I seem out of it, but I'm ready to get my fur done."
Justin nodded. "It's all fine, miss. I heard what happened and I intend to provide my best service for you." While the other attendants went to work with the others, Justin urged Diamond to follow him to the far corner where some salon equipment was set up. Setting down his basket and instructing Diamond to stand on the round platform about a foot off the floor.
Diamond walked up the steps and stood in the center of the circle, though looking around a sense of urgency took over. "E-excuse me? Do I have to stand for the whole thing? I don't mean to sound rude but-"
Justin quickly shook his head. "My apologies, I almost forgot Emily had said you were an expecting mother. I'll get some extra support for you right away." He quickly rushed to a nearby closet and pulled out padded support beams and began attaching them to the platform. "I hope this will suffice. When working on Pokemon with fur like yours we need to keep them upright to prevent uneven cutting." Diamond thanked him and held onto the rail. With his tools laid out, Justin took a spray bottle and began to dampen Diamond's fur before taking a pair of scissors and a comb and promptly getting to work. "Sorry if I seem a bit talkative with you, I don't normally get the privilege of working with Pokemon who can actually speak." He joked.
Diamond chuckled too. "I suppose it is a bit odd. I actually just started talking like this after a gym battle."
"Ah, so your trainer is traveling for badges, huh? Well tell them I wish them luck."
"I'm sure Aura will like to hear that." Diamond giggled. Justin made quick work of trimming down the ends of the fur dress, revealing her paws up to slightly above her ankles, and while he worked on trimming the fur to curve upward like a slit dress towards her left thigh; Alice, Lilly and Darlene had made use of the mudbaths just to the left of where Diamond was getting her cut.
"I've never thought of bathing in mud before." Lilly muttered.
"I would have to admit that living where I did in the mountains for so long, every time it rained I couldn't avoid the stuff covering my fur." Tia stated, lying across a cushioned table while one of the women gently massaged her back.
"I think this feels cool~" Stan cooed with his voice stuttering uncontrollably as the other man rapidly chopped his hands against the feline's back. A few times sparks came from the Luxio and the man jumped in surprise, but he adapted after realizing they weren't signs of danger and resumed without stopping. Tia rolled her eyes and chuckled under her breath.
Lee had shut himself in the sauna with the second woman whom was in there to regulate the temperature and give the Lucario a deep tissue massage with hot stones.
After nearly a full hour of treatment and trying out other things the spa could offer, everyone but Diamond had found themselves in the sauna with towels wrapped around their bodies. Of course, Alice and Darlene had changed into their swimsuits beforehand, but kept the towels over themselves either way.
"Ahh~ I haven't been in a sauna for at least five years!" Kibbs sighed happily, sitting across Darlene's lap. "I think last time was during a trip to Lavaridge Town in Hoenn during the winter."
"Well the high temperatures are good for fire types like yourself," Alice explained, "and speaking of which, it may actually be beneficial for Diamond to spend some time in here as well. It may not be healthy for human pregnancy, but the heat helps fire Pokemon build their body temperature easier which helps their eggs stay healthier."
Lilly tapped her chin. "That would make a lot of sense. Whenever I stand close to Diamond I can feel the warmth coming from her a lot more."
"And that's her body producing more hot air to help her egg develop in the hot climates they normally live, which during the winter it's crucial for them to release much higher body heat and keep in more confined spaces so both the mother and the egg stay at a consistent and high temperature."
Lee rolled his eyes at his mate's rambling. "I really admire your enthusiasm, hon, but maybe we could keep the lectures to a time we aren't just relaxing."
Alice flinched and coyly rubbed her head. "Heheh, oops. Sorry, honey. You know how much I like talking about this stuff."
Lee laughed and wrapped his arm around his mate's shoulder. "I know, Alice. That's one of the reasons I fell in love with you in the first place." Following this, Lee pressed his muzzle against Alice's cheek and gave her a longing kiss. Alice giggled like a child before poking his nose with a quiet "boop".
Hearing the door open caught everyone's attention as Diamond slowly walked in with a towel wrapped around her body, though it only came down to below her knees which left her feet exposed. "So you're finally done with your haircut?" Diamond nodded. "Well then, let's see it." Alice told her.
Taking a quick breath, Diamond sheepishly opened the towel to expose her full body. The fur around her torso wasn't much shorter at all but certainly appeared a bit thinner, meanwhile her fur dress was now a decent amount shorter and thinned out, the edges cut very smooth and rounded with the large curve upward from her right shin to her left thigh looking almost completely natural. The fur in her ears even trimmed down and given a softer and cared for appearence, while also still appearing almost natural down to the finest strand.
Diamond very quietly turned and rocked back and forth, whilst pivoting on the toes of her right foot timidly hidden behind her left, her towel tightly gripped in her restless paws behind her back. "How do I look?"
"You look absolutely stunning, dear." Kibbs praised with a wide, adoring smile.
"Do you really think so? It's not too revealing or anything?" Diamond questioned as she lifted some of her fur and let it fall back into place.
Alice slid over a bit and pat the bench beside her, Diamond seeing this gesture and promptly taking her seat, her towel now draped over her lap and her tail hanging off the ledge beside her leg. "You've gotta stop being so self-conscious all the time, sweety." Alice lift Diamond's chin with the Delphox clenching her towel. "You're a very beautiful girl, Diamond. Not only on the outside, but on the inside too."
"I would listen to Alice," Lilly squeaked, "you are very pretty, and I'm sure Aura would agree with us."
The thought of Aura seeing Diamond with her new look instantly brought an even brighter shade of red to her cheeks, her tail swatting the wooden seat as her mind began to wander. She placed her paws on her warm cheeks and tittered lightly to herself, swooning over her fantasy of Aura returning to find her waiting outside for him. He would adore her new appearance before suddenly sweeping her off her feet and into his arms, carrying her bridal style into their bedroom and laying her on their bed, passionately pressing his lips to hers before-.
"Diamond?!"
The fox jumped from her name being called suddenly and someone snapping their fingers inches from her face. "Kyaa!" She screamed in surprise, leaning away from the others with her arms thrown into the air and a look of complete shock on her now pale face.
"You okay? You kinda spaced out for a bit there." Stan said with one ear folded down and his head slightly cocked to the side. "Alice has been trying to get your attention for like a few minutes."
Tia nudged him. "It wasn't that long. Maybe at most one minute but not much longer."
Completely silent for a moment, Diamond finally shook her head and sat normally again, not noticing her towel now bunched up on the floor by her feet. "Yeah. I kind of just got lost in my imagination." The red colour returned to her face as she cleared her throat.
"Well, on an unrelated note," Darlene began after clearing her throat, "now that Diamond has her fur cut, I'm curious how she'll look in her swimsuit now."
Alice clapped excitedly and laughed. "Oh my god, yes! I almost forgot about that. I still have her swimsuit in my bag, I'll go get it." Hopping up from her seat, Alice took Diamond's arm and tugged. "Come on then." Without much choice on the matter, Diamond stood up and followed Alice out of the sauna only for Alice to return about six minutes later with a large grin on her face. "Sorry it took so long, had to remind her how to tie up the strings properly, but without further ado." Alice cut herself off as she signaled for Diamond to enter, her doing as instructed and walking in slowly facing away and her arms timidly held just over her chest. Alice cleared her throat loudly for Diamond to lower her arms, which she did slowly.
"D-does it look okay?" Diamond asked, sounding somewhat doubtful by her tone and posture.
"You look fine, hon. No need to be so self conscious about yourself, if anything I would be grateful for it." Darlene replied. "Just like Alice said before, you're a beautiful young woman both inside and out, so stop worrying so much about how you look and just enjoy yourself."
Diamond shuffled about shortly before taking a deep breath. "I'm sorry for being like this, everyone. It's all just so different than what I'm used to, and it's a bit strange for me to wear something like this considering I'm not even human."
"Last time I checked, that had nothing to do with anything; you not being human." Kibbs lectured. "Being nervous when it comes to this stuff is completely normal so we can't blame you for it, but we're not exactly in the public eye right now so just relax and stop your worrying for now. Just take it easy and you'll get used to it."
The fox Pokemon let out a deep sigh. "Yeah, you're right. Sorry."
Everyone shared a short chuckle from the situation and simply decided to move past it, Lee bringing an entirely different topic to their conversation. "Maybe we should take a bit of a break from the sauna and do something else, like maybe sit in the jacuzzi just outside." He pointed his thumb to the sauna door.
"I'm feeling perfectly fine in here to be honest," Alice said, "but maybe it has something to do with you already spending almost an hour in here beforehand."
Lee simply shrugged his shoulders and stood up. "Well not to be rude about it, but I'm gonna hop in the hottub for a while, maybe even order a bottle of Oran Berry Wine."
Alice stood up and quickly followed. "You know what, maybe we could spend a little bit of time out of the sauna afterall."
A collective laugh was shared among the group and soon enough everyone followed out to the large jacuzzi.
The sun was setting and Aura and Prince were still hiking through the woods in search of a Pokemon they could spar with. "To be honest I would have thought more Pokemon would have been more than willing to fight for a while, but I guess I thought wrong." Aura sighed.
"Perhaps we should head back then, Master Aura. Before it gets too dark and we can't find our way back."
Aura let out another sigh of defeat and agreed with him, the two just about to head back the way they came when a loud cry suddenly rang out from up the trail. "What the hell is that?!" Aura exclaimed. "Come on, let's check it out!" Without a second thought, the duo hurried along the overgrown trail in the direction they had been hiking only to find a fork splitting into two separate paths. "Dammit, which way do we go?"
Prince stepped up to the point the paths split in twine and began to focus his energy, an invisible wave of aura pulsing from him as he searched for any nearby auras in distress. His ears shot up and he instantly turned to his left. "This way!" The two wasted no time in sprinting down the path with haste. "It was faint, but I could sense five different auras this way, three of them were healthy but weak and in great distress, and another was filled with ill intent."
"What about the fifth one?"
"It certainly didn't stand out, it was very weak and seemed to be in pain, but also shared similarities to the smaller three."
Aura was amazed he could tell so much just from sensing the essence of distant beings, but now was not the time to give praise as there was potentially multiple Pokemon in trouble, three of which more than likely just children from the sounds of it, but if that was the case then the weakened aura Prince saw must have been their parent. This possibility made Aura think about Diamond and how she lost her parents, fueling his determination to reach the defenseless Pokemon and allow them a happy life together.
A roar bellowed from the forest up ahead that practically shook the earth below their feet. Neither Aura or Prince slowed down for even a second. "We're close!" Aura pointed out as he and Prince mentally prepared themselves, Aura simultaneously lifting his right arm with a blue glow in his palm before swinging it back behind him with a flick of his wrist, a smooth and sudden "schwing" paired with an almost mystical humming noise emanated from the energy as it near instantly flashed a curved sword in his grip.
Finally coming upon the location of the roar and cries of fear, Aura held his blade at the ready and Prince charged his fists with orange-red energy, the two slid around the corner to witness a large quadrupedal reptile with blue scales and red wings standing in front of a small cave entrance. Below the mighty Salamence lay a terribly burned and beaten Breloom, and inside the cave Aura could see three Shroomish fearfully huddled together. "Hey! Salamence!" Aura shouted. Salamence whipped it's head around and glared at the duo hungrily, Aura raising his sword in response. "You get the Breloom and Shroomish to a safe place, I'll hold it off." He told Prince, the canine nodding and running off. Salamence's eyes trailed Prince, so Aura quickly charged up an aura sphere and blasted it in the face. "Eyes over here, buddy!"
Salamence let out a roar and charged at him. Knowing he would be severely outmatched fighting the Salamence by himself head on, Aura quickly rushed in the opposite direction, running past a few fallen trees that were either burned, smashed or slashed at the base. He didn't even have time to even think about what happened to those trees as the Salamence was fastly approaching, moving much quicker than it's large body lead on.
Meanwhile, as Aura distracted the massive dragon type, Prince used his considerable speed to swiftly reach the unconscious and bleeding Breloom and relocate it to a safer location. Deciding behind a large boulder at least a few meters from the fight would be as good a place as any for cover. Immediately after gently setting the Breloom down, Prince hurried to the cave where the Shroomish were hunkered down. "Hey, I'm here to rescue you." Prince told them. None of the Shroomish moved, staring at Prince with immense fear just as they had the Salamence. Slightly biting his lip in concern, Prince noticed pieces of broken egg shells spread across the back side of the cave, and judging from how fragile their auras all seemed, he deducted they must have only hatched just recently. Seeing no other options, and with his trainer most likely running out of time, Prince carefully picked up each of the hatchlings and hurried to their hiding place.
Upon reaching the massive stone and gently setting the hatchlings next to the Breloom, all three instantly huddled against their parent for protection. It was a sad sight to say the least, but some light of hope was shed as Prince heard the Breloom groan in pain. "My… babies…" She weakly muttered.
"It is okay, miss. My master and I are going to make sure you're all safe." Prince told her calmly. She looked at her children then back to the Lucario. A loud crashing noise followed by a shout of fear came from where Aura and the Salamence were still fighting, Prince knew he couldn't waste any more time. "Just stay here and rest for now. Don't come out until we come get you." He instructed, jumping to his feet and speeding back to his trainer.
Turns out the loud crash had come from a tree the Salamence had toppled over, Aura just narrowly avoiding being crushed by it which caused him to cry out in momentary fear. But despite full on colliding with a massive tree, the Salamence was unfazed for the most part and had Aura crawling backwards with no time to stand up.
Another guttural roar echoed from the Salamence before lunging at the trainer. Thankfully, Aura managed to quickly summon a protective barrier between himself and the dragon, although when Salamence made contact with it the transparent shield immediately cracked like a car windshield. Despite not even touching the wall physically, Aura still felt the recoil from the impact and splitting pain shot through his nerves as the energy he used to create the barrier in the first place was directly connected to his life essence.
Once more the reptile reeled back and slammed into the shield, causing it to crack even more with some pieces falling off and shattering into nothing. Preparing for one final slam, Salamence lifted the front half of it's body to throw it's entire weight against it. This would have surely finished it off, but Salamence was so focused on Aura at this point it hadn't realized what was coming for it.
With a loud battlecry, Prince leaped towards the massive Pokemon's head using his Extreme Speed, the immeasurable momentum giving the much smaller Pokemon enough force to not only out-power the bulky beast, but send him sliding almost ten feet along the ground the moment Prince's foot connected with the side of it's skull. An audible crunch was heard upon contact and it was suspected at least a few teeth and part of it's jaw must have broken from the attack as it lay motionless against a tree.
"Sorry I took so long, Master Aura." Prince apologized as his trainer stood back up.
"It's okay, but I'm really glad you came when you did." Hearing the Salamence move again, they both turned to watch it slowly stand and with blood streaming from the corner of it's mouth. A moment of silence passed as the Salamence seemed to be recovering from the impact, but it didn't take long for it to shoot the two a death glare and start growling with it's pupils dilated from rage. "Shit! I think we just pissed it off more than anything!" Aura summoned his blades once again and held them crossed over his chest. "As much as I hate to say it, it may be our lives or his if this keeps up."
Salamence rushed at them again with it's body veiled in silver streaks of energy as it charged full force, exhibiting it's immensely powerful Double Edge attack. In contrast to the Salamence's impressive agility despite it's great bulk and size, it failed to actually make contact with it's targets as Prince and Aura both nimbly avoided the attack, swiftly rolling out of it's path and jumping to their feet to watch Salamence continue to charge directly into the cliff face. It roared again in pain and rage.
"Perhaps we can still find a way to pacify him."
"Maybe…" Aura started. "Prince! Can you hold him off me for a few minutes?" The Lucario nodded to his trainer and rushed forth while Aura dug his Pokedex from his back pocket and held it up to the Salamence. "Haven't used this for a while." He muttered under his breath as the device scanned the dragon before bringing up a bunch of data on it's species. Scrolling through the walls of text and skimming the words, Aura became worried as he couldn't see a single method of pacifying the lizard other than "tiring it out", and looking up to see it still chasing Prince after tackling the cliff head on, he doubted they would have any luck with that.
However, considering how much damage Salamence has already taken during this conflict, Aura looked at his belt where he had clipped a few empty Pokeballs and scowled. To any normal trainer this would not be a difficult decision, but to Aura, this was a dilemma of his personal moral code; but with their options wearing thin it didn't seem like he had much of a choice.
Taking one of the empty balls in his hand, he sighed and and called out. "Prince! I need you to weaken Salamence as much as you can so I can catch him." This actually surprised the canine as he glanced back at his trainer with a confused expression. It was well known to all his Pokemon that Aura would never want to forcefully capture a Pokemon, but as he jumped away from an incoming Dragon Claw, he knew this was their only good option without risking someone's life. "Let's do this, Prince! Force Palm!"
With a confident gaze, Prince lowered himself while focusing his energy into his right paw until it glowed with a faint golden aura. A cloud of dust left in his wake as he launched himself forward in a complete blur, appearing suddenly next to Salamence and thrusting his paw against the bottom of his jaw. A blast of golden energy burst from Prince's palm and launched Salamence a few feet into the air with a roar.
Aura got ready to throw his Pokeball, though stopped himself as Salamence managed to quickly recover from the attack and stand back up. He growled, "Don't think he's weak enough yet. Power up with Swords Dance and go for a Metal Claw!"
Taking the chance while Salamence was still dazed, Prince crossed his arms in front of his chest as his appendages lifted to better hone his aura. Soon he let out a gruff bark and swung both arms outward, summoning four blue swords of light to swirl around him and flash away, leaving a slight red glow to momentarily envelope his body to show his increased power.
Taking off at full sprint and encasing his hands in large, metallic claws, Prince pounced at Salamence and slashed with ferocity at his tough scales. The dragon Pokemon let out a cry of pain and stumbled back a few steps. Growling loudly, Salamence endured the pain from continuous slashes, it's pupils quickly dilated as the red markings on it's head glowed and it swung upward like a hammer. Caught completely off guard from the counter attack, Prince took the powerful Zen Headbutt attack directly to his gut and was sent flying off in excruciating pain. Upon hitting the ground again, Prince curled up and held his stomach, wincing and coughing up small globs of blood onto the dirt.
Aura nearly panicked as he watches Slamence stomp towards his partner. Without much hesitation, Aura hurled his Pokeball at the dragon just as it lifted its leg to crush Prince, meanwhile Aura also began running to his fallen partner as the red and white sphere clicked against Salamence's shoulder. The dragon had a moment to turn his head in confusion just as the Pokeball bounced off his body and popped open, releasing a flash of bright red energy that coated the Pokemon and pulled it inside the capsule.
Not even watching the furiously shaking ball on the ground, Aura practically dove to lift Prince into his arms and rush away hastily. "Master Aura?" Prince wheezed.
"Just worry about yourself right now. That Pokeball isn't going to hold him for long!" Aura told him, moments later the two hearing the sound of the Pokeball being forced open and the Salamence roaring as his body emerging from the red energy. Glaring at the small round object, Salamence lifted his foot and smashed the Pokeball to pieces before shooting his gaze towards Aura. He loudly cursed and quickly snatched another of his empty balls and flung it at the dragon again, Salamence too enraged to notice in time and once again being sucked into the capsule. Wasting no time, Aura threw his bag off his shoulders and pulled out multiple bottles of spray medicine. "I'm sure you can use these Hyper Potions on yourself." They could hear the Pokeball cracking and sparking wildly from the intense struggle Salamence put up. "Shit. I'll keep him occupied while you recover."
Prince reached up to grab his trainer's arm, but stopped himself and simply did as he was told and applying the medicine to his wounds, hissing as it stung on contact. Meanwhile, Aura summoned his sword in his right hand while charging an Aura Sphere in his left. Finally the Pokeball burst apart with the Salamence materializing from inside. Not long after Salamence shook his head and glared at his prey, Aura launched the sphere into the dragon's face which instantly exploded and coaxed an agitated roar from the reptile. His eyes darted towards Aura and he let out a grunt, turning his body to face the trainer.
Aura created and immediately shot another sphere into the Salamence. "Come on then! You gonna just sit there and take it?!" He taunted. Salamence roared and charged in Aura's direction. "That's right, keep your eyes on me!" Sprinting off in the opposite direction, Aura guided the Salamence away from Prince towards the complete opposite side of the clearing.
Reaching the cliff face, Aura swiftly spun around with his blade at the ready. A strange feeling suddenly coarsed through Aura's body, however nothing about it actually felt wrong or intrusive, but rather it felt completely natural to him despite being completely new. Whatever this feeling was, it had great influence over Aura's mind and body though was not actually taking control at all, rather it was more so guiding his movements and thoughts while still giving him the choice to follow it's instructions.
As if new doors had opened within his subconscious, Aura freely accepted the guidance without hesitation. Finding a perfect opening, Aura began rushing towards Salamence with the two growing closer by the second. In just a moments notice, Aura dropped down and lifted his sword as Salamence seemed to run right over him. An ear piercing screech of agony echoed from the dragon as it felt the blade cut into his flesh, although it appeared as if no physical damage had actually been dealt.
This surprised Aura as he could still feel some kind of resistance as he sliced through it's body, though at the same time it felt like he was cutting through nothing at all. Salamence eventually slowed down and crashed into the cliff one last time before finally falling to the ground in defeat.
Aura stared at his sword in disbelief. How did he know nothing would actually happen when he slashed into Salamence? Despite this lingering question, Aura figured he would eventually find an answer and focused on the task at hand. Taking one more empty Pokeball from his belt, Aura tossed it towards the unconscious dragon type and watched it get pulled inside for the final time. With barely any struggle, the ball let out a ding and stopped rocking, signifying a successful capture.
Picking up his new Pokemon and snapping the ball into the slot on his belt, Aura hurried over to Prince. "Are you feeling any better?"
The Lucario nodded and allowed Aura to help him stand. "Much better. But how did you manage to defeat Salamence like that?"
Aura shrugged. "I have no idea actually. But at this point I just assume we'll get an answer for it eventually." He looked around curiously, "So where did you take Breloom and the Shroomish?" Slowly leading Aura to the large boulder, they walked behind it to find the Breloom awake and the Shroomish gathered around her. "I'm glad all of you are safe." Aura said.
Breloom looked up at the trainer and nodded. "Thank you so much for saving me and my babies." She weakly told them. Realizing just how hurt she really was, Aura quickly took more of his medicine from his bag and began to treat her wounds. "Sorry if this stings a bit, but it will help you get better faster."
A few minutes passed while Aura applied the Potions to Breloom's injuries, him and Prince taking the time to properly introduce themselves before helping the family back to their cave home.
"Thank you so much, Aura and Prince." Breloom said.
"We're just glad we were here to help." Saying their farewells and returning to the trail, Aura and Prince hiked back towards their campsite. During their walk, Aura decided that it wouldn't feel right keeping Salamence after all that happened. So remembering he was given the number of the local ranger station for this area, he quickly called them and explained the whole situation.
After mentioning how he wouldn't feel right keeping the Salamence himself and that it could pose a dangerous threat to himself and his family's safety, the ranger happily agreed to come pick up the Salamence as soon as they returned to camp. Giving them instructions to supply some kind of signal to locate their camp directly. Without any flares or similar tools meant for signaling for help, they decided on a simple smoke signal after noting their camp was next to a small waterfall, narrowing the possible areas down to three of the multiple other clearings in the forest.
Upon returning to their campsite Aura got straight to making a fire so the ranger can find them. Sitting next to the fire, Aura held the Salamence's ball in his hand and sighed. "I wonder why it went on a rampage like that? Maybe it was just hunting for food or something?"
Being a predatory species himself, Prince just shrugged in reply. "That is a possibility, in the wild Pokemon have to do what they can to survive, and not all of us manage to live full lives. However, not all predatory Pokemon hunt other Pokemon, the hunters of my old pack would more often bring back smaller animals like birds or fish and plenty of fruits and berries."
"That might be why we see more Pokemon around than animals." Aura said as he leaned back and looked at the darkening sky. "You know, humans come up with so many different theories about how and why Pokemon are even here." Prince raised an ear in curiosity. "Some people think they come from space while others think they actually evolved from animals over millions of years." He smiled wishfully as a shooting star passed overhead. "I always thought the evolution theory was more believable growing up, but knowinng what I do now, maybe it's something much more complex than just that, something that can't really be explained through just stories."
Prince stared at the sky as well. He had never actually questioned his existence before, but now he grew curious for an answer himself.
He heard Aura sigh and looked at him again. "Sorry for rambling on like that, Prince. I don't even know where that came from, maybe after learning who and what I really was I just needed some kind of clarity on things." He returned his gaze to the Pokeball in his hands. "Maybe we just shouldn't think too hard about this stuff in the future. We can't change the way the world works and thinking about it too much will just give me a headache."
Aura chuckled and poked the fire while Prince just blinked at him confused. Although, given how much Aura's life has changed so drastically and so suddenly upon beginning his journey, the way he sees the world must have expanded far more than he expected and he just needed some time to figure things out. Taking that to mind, Prince didn't question Aura's thoughts and the two just happily talked until the ranger finally arrived on the back of a large Talonflame.
"Sorry it took me so long to get here." The man said as he hopped off the bird's back. Aura stood up with Salamence's Pokeball and held it out to the ranger who politely took it and placed it in his satchel. "Thanks for calling us about him. I'll make sure Salamence is given a good home where he won't be able to hurt anyone." Thanking the man, Aura sat back down as the Talonflame took off with it's trainer on it's back.
Poking at the flame once more, Aura yawned and looked to their tent. "Tomorrow we finally head back to town and prepare for the tournament. Let's get some sleep."
Agreeing with his trainer, Prince followed Aura into the tent after putting out the fire. They used up a lot of energy fighting Salamence and both deserved a nice long rest.
So I don't even know why I wrote the end the way I did. I kind of just had a thought about it and was struggling to actually think of anything else so I just went with it, but with that I purposely worded it this way to actually explain my own thoughts about animals existing in the Pokemon world but at the same time explaining they were not as common as Pokemon, not to mention how I tend to just overthink things while writing and it just bothers me cause of how much I actually try to find a perfect explanation. I know it's a wierd thing to think about and all but it's just one of those minor world developments solely for plot convenience later on.
I had also purposely noted how Aura was aware of himself rambling as a way to kind of portray some of myself in his character, being that I just overexplain everything and it's fucking annoying.
Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this longer chapter despite some of the poorer structuring I had.
And one last thing. I know in the games Lucario can not learn Fire Punch but I figured if they can learn Thunder and Ice Punch and Blaze Kick, why not be able to use Fire Punch as well. Of course I probably won't do this too much but if it makes sense for a Pokemon to know a certain move I'll prob do it despite the game mechanics as this is my own world.
